$14,995 for Comcast Cable Installation?Running that extra stretch of coax can be pricey... ( old news - 08:57AM Thursday Nov 30 2006) tags: coverage · business · cable · installTipped by wdoa  The difference between the broadband haves and the broadband have-nots often comes down to a couple hundred feet. When dealing with a cable provider, users just out of range of cable can sometimes pony up the costs to have the coax or fiber run a little further down the road. A new home buyer recently discussed his experience getting Time Warner Cable to extend their network a few blocks for a cool $1,000 in our Time Warner/Roadrunner forum. User wdoa offers up the latest story of this type: "Some of the residents of the small Massachusetts town of Hardwick are being told it will cost almost 15 grand for Comcast to install Cable to their homes. Town officials say that Comcast is being 'unreasonable'." "We are being held hostage," complains one local to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Occasionally the costs are simply too prohibitive, and the cable provider isn't cooperative. Flashback to a thread in May of 2004, when one user was told it would cost him $25,000 to have Time Warner Cable stretch coax to his home. After years of campaigning and letter writing, his complaint was picked up by a telco astroturf group which used his case as a PR attack on the cable industry and local franchise agreements. As our report from January explores, the user wound up getting national attention, broadband from Cablevision (ironically thanks to local franchise obligations) and a free iPod from the telcos in one of the stranger quests for broadband we've ever seen.
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- Getting Your Cable Carrier To Go That Extra Mile
- Charter Offers 60 Mbps In California
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quetwo
That VoIP Guy
Premium
join:2004-09-04
East Lansing, MI
| It's not just the price of the coax... Sometimes, just to go that extra block and service some users, boosters, extra fiber connectors, or even re-engineering part of the plant is necessary. That's why the companies choose to draw their boundaries at certain intersections or locations.
Remember, attenuation of coax, while not as bad as ethernet, or a single twisted pair, is still an issue for longer runs. If a customer wants cable, chances are they want internet, and possibly phone, so Comcast has to make sure they can build their plant to accomplish those at a rate the customer may want. | |
| 
hamburglar_
join:2002-04-29
Columbus, OH | About Right A friend of mine got a similar quote from Time Warner for a 1000ft extension. | |
| 
Toadman
How do you like these Apples
join:2001-11-28
Medina, OH
| Share the costs.... And profit I understand if they want to charge extra for those "beyond" installations, but if they are going to run the wire infront of 25 other houses and then feel they are going to charge those people, its time for rebates or sharing the profit that they make off of those customers. Simple Amortization people, its not that complicated. | |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| Re: Share the costs.... And profit said by Toadman :I understand if they want to charge extra for those "beyond" installations, but if they are going to run the wire infront of 25 other houses and then feel they are going to charge those people, its time for rebates or sharing the profit that they make off of those customers. Simple Amortization people, its not that complicated. That's exactly how it works. Each time someone from one of those other homes (less than 20 normally; if it is 20 or more than it fits under mandatory buildout) gets an installation, the original person receives a rebate on their install. Once a certain number of people install (normally somewhere between 10 and 20), the original person receives a full rebate down to the cost of a normal installation.
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| | | daslog
join:2002-04-10
Milford, NH
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building I guess it really depends on how much profit they make per customer. For example, if it costs them 5,000 grand to wire 10 houses and they only make 10 bucks a month profit per house, then it's going to take 4+ years for Comcast to break even.
On the other hand, if they make 20 bucks a month profit per sub, then it's only 2 years to make back their initial investment. | |
| | | RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
 ·XMission
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building said by daslog : For example, if it costs them 5,000 grand to wire 10 houses a Do you mean 5 million or 5 thousand?
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. | |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| said by daslog :I guess it really depends on how much profit they make per customer. For example, if it costs them 5,000 grand to wire 10 houses and they only make 10 bucks a month profit per house, then it's going to take 4+ years for Comcast to break even. A year ago Verizon happily wired my neighborhood with FiOS. At the time I believe the price tag was somewhere around $1500 per house. I pay $40/month to Verizon for my data online line. At at price it will take 3 years for Verizon to recoup that install cost, and that was with 100% of my payment going to pay for the install. If you figure $10/month (still probably high) it will take over 12 years to recoup the cost.
Comcast has the exact same line buried in my backyard as they did 27 years ago when they built my addition. They have had plenty of time to recoup the initial install costs over that 27 year period. The thought that it might take them 5 or 10 years to recoup the costs shouldn't even be an issue.
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Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? | |
| | | | daslog
join:2002-04-10
Milford, NH | Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building "The thought that it might take them 5 or 10 years to recoup the costs shouldn't even be an issue."
Don't tell their stockholders that. Taking losses isn't good for your stock price.. | |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building said by daslog :Don't tell their stockholdersdaytraders that. Taking losses isn't good for your stock price.. Don't count daytraders that are looking for instant profits. Look at the long term stockholders that really count. If the telco/cableco really were concerned about making the "quick buck" instead of long term investments, they would have never switched to fiber or hybrid fiber/coax networks.
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Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? | |
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MadMANN
Premium
join:2005-08-19
 ·Comcast
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building I can guarantee that a customer in the boones about 1000 feet away from the closest fiber run with no other houses for another couple thousand feet would be charged to bring service to their home. If it costs $15,000 in time and material, a $40-60 /month income is NOT worth it. If you think it is, then you can loan me $15,000 cash and I'll gladly give you $60 month until it's paid off.
In your situation, I am sure Verizon happily wired you and dozens of surrounding homes. It's a different story than three to five houses within a mile stretch.
This news article doesn't even provide that info as to the specifics of how far they had to run the plant and what equipment they needed to do it.
I did a site audit one time for a house that was 600 feet off of the road. I drew up a map and cited the specifics about the job. It wasn't a difficult run. There was an usused splitter port on the plant. They ran feeder to the house and we installed RG11 from the new tap to the house. Total install costs to the company = appx $2000. And the customer got free installation with $20/ month internet with $30/ month digital for 6 months. What did they do? They canceled in 6 months and went back to dial up and satellite. I went back there 2 weeks ago (about 5 months after they cancelled) and reinstalled the internet. When I asked them why they switched back to satellite? "There is no contract with cable and Directv was offering another special. We just put it under our wife's name. I do really miss channel x,y & z, though. And Directv is pissing me off with their screwy billing. I'll switch back again after my contract is up with them."  | |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building said by MadMANN :I can guarantee that a customer in the boones about 1000 feet away from the closest fiber run with no other houses for another couple thousand feet would be charged to bring service to their home. If it costs $15,000 in time and material, a $40-60 /month income is NOT worth it. If you think it is, then you can loan me $15,000 cash and I'll gladly give you $60 month until it's paid off. In your situation, I am sure Verizon happily wired you and dozens of surrounding homes. It's a different story than three to five houses within a mile stretch. I'm not saying that it's the same situation. But they are wiring up an area based on a central office. They aren't going to light up an entire area but leave a few houses that are 1/4 mile away. Yes it does cost more for wiring up those farther houses. But the return isn't just in revenue on a monthly basis. It's less copper that they have to maintain. They can eliminate older equipment in the CO. They can advance their network and potentially get additional revenue that they didn't before as those people out in the boonies probably weren't getting DSL and now they can get FiOS data and video. The $1500 that it costs when FiOS was installed for me wasn't the exact cost for me. It was the average cost for the area. It factored in densly populated neighborhoods where a mile stretch of fiber could serve dozens of houses. It also factors in the fringes of my town where there may be 6 or 8 houses in a mile strech.
This news article doesn't even provide that info as to the specifics of how far they had to run the plant and what equipment they needed to do it. I wasn't replying in response to the news article. My original reply was in response to daslog 's post where he was questioning the capitalization of the installation over 4 years. The capitalization of that buried (or aerial run) is much longer then just 4 years. If the telcos and cablecos wanted very short term returns on their investments then new installations would not happen ANYWHERE. You just can't make a return that quickly.
I would agree though that the articles were sparse in the information. In some cases I'm sure the companies do quote a unreasonably high number just because they don't want to deal with installing a relatively few customers. But in other times I think they are quoting reasonable prices. It's all in the details.
I did a site audit one time for a house that was 600 feet off of the road. I drew up a map and cited the specifics about the job. It wasn't a difficult run. There was an usused splitter port on the plant. They ran feeder to the house and we installed RG11 from the new tap to the house. Total install costs to the company = appx $2000. And the customer got free installation with $20/ month internet with $30/ month digital for 6 months. What did they do? They canceled in 6 months and went back to dial up and satellite. I went back there 2 weeks ago (about 5 months after they cancelled) and reinstalled the internet. When I asked them why they switched back to satellite? "There is no contract with cable and Directv was offering another special. We just put it under our wife's name. I do really miss channel x,y & z, though. And Directv is pissing me off with their screwy billing. I'll switch back again after my contract is up with them."
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Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? | |
| | | | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH
1 edit | True, but if you add in video and phone onto that piece of fiber, then their roi will be lower.
Edit: Also, to the best of my knowledge, Verizon don't have to allow other competitors to use the fiber they're laying. | |
| | | | 
atuarre
Here come the drums
Premium
join:2004-02-14
Lake Charles, LA
clubs:
| said by cdru :said by daslog :I guess it really depends on how much profit they make per customer. For example, if it costs them 5,000 grand to wire 10 houses and they only make 10 bucks a month profit per house, then it's going to take 4+ years for Comcast to break even. A year ago Verizon happily wired my neighborhood with FiOS. At the time I believe the price tag was somewhere around $1500 per house. I pay $40/month to Verizon for my data online line. At at price it will take 3 years for Verizon to recoup that install cost, and that was with 100% of my payment going to pay for the install. If you figure $10/month (still probably high) it will take over 12 years to recoup the cost. Comcast has the exact same line buried in my backyard as they did 27 years ago when they built my addition. They have had plenty of time to recoup the initial install costs over that 27 year period. The thought that it might take them 5 or 10 years to recoup the costs shouldn't even be an issue. And it is issues like that which is causing Verizon a big headache with it's shareholders. They are dumping all this money in FIOS but are not seeing the return on their investment right now. | |
| | 
RustyTheDog
Premium
join:2003-05-27
Trenton, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| said by morbo :Periodicially, Charter offers to wire my work building for about $15,000. The management company always throws the option to tenants to have the cost split among everyone, but it never is approved. There is just something wrong about PAYING the cable company to wire your space so that you can then PAY them for service. It the cable company wants my business, they will wire the building--NOT ask me to do it for them. But you're comparing getting a wire to the door of your building to wiring the entire building, right? I can't imagine there is a cable company out there that would wire your entire building for free. Although I do agree that paying the cable company for the work seems a bit redundant. Why don't you see if a local electrician or someone else would be interested. The cable company doesn't have to do it. | |
| | | 
c0de
join:2004-10-14
Richmond, VA | Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building I was about to say the same thing, I am sure that you could find an electrician to do it for you for less. | |
| | | | 
John Galt
Forward, March
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
·CenturyLink
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building said by c0de :I was about to say the same thing, I am sure that you could find an electrician to do it for you for less. Obviously you don't know much about it...
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A is A | |
| | | | | zentec
join:2002-01-05
Monroe, MI | Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building Given the efficiencies of an electrician over the cable-jockeys that Charter employs, I'd say a three man crew of good electricians would end up being cheaper. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | averagedude
join:2002-01-30
Mesa, AZ
·Cox HSI
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building I think there are 2 distinct point be said that are being mixed.
1. Service to the property line.
2. service with in the property line.
Service to the property should fall on the provider. To be fair, if the property is in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no way of spreading the cost to other owners which basically ends up being a dedicated circuit.....but most of these posts refer to less than several hundred yards to service their property.
Service with in the property line should fall on the owner unless there is an agreement of "right of way." | |
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John Galt
Forward, March
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
·CenturyLink
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building said by averagedude :Service with in the property line should fall on the owner unless there is an agreement of "right of way." Cable companies will do premise wiring in large buildings...they just want to get paid for it up front.
Hence the $15,000 quote...
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A is A | |
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GT
| Well you pay the electrician to wire your house, then you pay the electric company to give you the power. same thing with cable companies. you pay them to do the wiring then they send the juice down the line for your services. | |
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John Galt
Forward, March
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
·CenturyLink
| Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building said by GT :
Well you pay the electrician to wire your house, then you pay the electric company to give you the power. same thing with cable companies. you pay them to do the wiring then they send the juice down the line for your services.
Oh noes...!!
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A is A | |
| | | 
battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000
| We do it all the time. There are office buildings in our area where you can't get DSL and Comcast wants to charge the landlords thousands to bring in cable. The land lords just want some broadband in their buildings to keep tenants from moving to places where they can get cable or dsl.
So what we do is come in with some T1s multi linked, install a switch I can create some vLans in and drop ethernet to the tenants. Most of the time comcast wants 10 to 20k to wire out the buildings with no revenue share to the land lord. We tell the land lord we bare the expense and they are our customers. Landlords are happy to do this, all they want is broadband for their tenants. | |
| | averagedude
join:2002-01-30
Mesa, AZ
·Cox HSI
| said by morbo :There is just something wrong about PAYING the cable company to wire your space so that you can then PAY them for service. Agreed! | |
| | markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO | I'm sure you did, but you consider wiring it yourself for cheaper? If you don't own the building ask the landlord about at least fronting part of it. Find it odd that it was not wired for cable to begin with, guess a older building? | |
| |
asdfasdfcxvcvcvc
@hickorytech.net | Why should they wire up your building for free? Once it's installed it's you're wiring, even if charter or whoever paid for it to be done. You could have them wire up the building for free and then everyone could switch to another company. | |
| | 
GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL
| said by morbo :Periodicially, Charter offers to wire my work building for about $15,000. The management company always throws the option to tenants to have the cost split among everyone, but it never is approved. There is just something wrong about PAYING the cable company to wire your space so that you can then PAY them for service. It the cable company wants my business, they will wire the building--NOT ask me to do it for them. Well are they quoting for wiring the inside of the building (all floors, rooms etc) or are they just talking cabling up to a demarc outside the building?
I don't see how a provider is obligated to wire the inside premise of your facility or home at no cost. I think (assuming regulatory mandates) they would be obligated to run up to the outside, but that's it. The building management & thus tenants would end up paying someone to do those inside runs which could be Charter or some other contractor.
Full wire-up of 23 floors is going to be costly no matter who does it.
K.
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | Re: $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building
My problem with this type of situation is that it is basically off-loading the infastructure investment onto the consumers. A lousy tactic, in my opinion. | |
| 
Jim_F
Premium
join:2004-01-19
Caldwell, NJ | $25k for 2 installs.. We had a similar issue with Comcast installing cable at 2 of our office locations. I posted about it in the Comcast forum way back when - finally it worked out for us when we agreed to dig the trench ourselves (we're a cemetery). | |
| |
See 12 replies to this post | |
Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH
| 6 months and still waiting for response from TW I've being trying to get an answer from TW on what it would take to run service to my house. It would be a 1.8 mile run. It would also pass 12 additional houses. At this time, I still have absolutely no response from them.
I've also recently learned that another person on my road was trying to get service. That run would have been less than a 1/4 mile and passed two houses. He didn't get anywhere either.
I just scratch my head and wonder why people are begging for service and not getting any answer from TW. | |
| | 
JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs: | Re: 6 months and still waiting for response from TW Check with your local franchise authority. The franchise agreement likely includes more favorable terms than what you'll be able to negotiate with TW independently (if they ever even get back to you). | |
| | ken_92030
Premium
join:2005-11-25
Saulsbury, TN
| said by Nuts :I've being trying to get an answer from TW on what it would take to run service to my house. It would be a 1.8 mile run. It would also pass 12 additional houses. At this time, I still have absolutely no response from them. I've also recently learned that another person on my road was trying to get service. That run would have been less than a 1/4 mile and passed two houses. He didn't get anywhere either. I just scratch my head and wonder why people are begging for service and not getting any answer from TW. I have tried for years to get TW to install to my house. The TW cable is on the Hwy .2 mile from my house. A few weeks ago I happened to talk to a TW installer. I asked how much it would cost to get it to my house and he said $10,000 a mile. I'm so fed up with dial up and satellite I'm seriously thinking of paying to get it. Actually it's not a bad deal. I'm paying $150 a month for what I'm getting now. At $50 a month for TW I'd be saving $100 a month towards the $2000+ installation. | |
| | older dog
Premium
join:2005-06-09
Norwich, NY | I asked TW to do a survey where I live. They responded quickly.
There are about 24 homes per mile average.
The answer was no but a survey was done. | |
| Aleck79
join:2003-07-23
College Station, TX | There a self install option? :P
just give me the bundle of cable, I'll run the crap myself...across neighbors lawns and city streets. hah | |
| 
ib50MbSoon
Formerly TwoKDialup
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI
| Here's a thought! "After years of campaigning and letter writing, his complaint was picked up by a telco astroturf group which used his case as a PR attack on the cable industry and local franchise agreements."
LOL! Maybe the telco astroturf group can help get fios or uverse installed in these unserved areas.
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| | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH | Re: Here's a thought! That's a excellent idea. It's also a radical idea's, and those won't be tolerated.  | |
| 
nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| Guess I'm Missing Something... Don't get me wrong, I'm not a lover of cable companies...
That said, if you were trying to get a telco to draw a T1 (or similar type of service) to your house or place of business, you'd have to pay for the loop costs just so you could also pay the actual data carriage fees.
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis | |
| | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH | Re: Guess I'm Missing Something... This is true. However, I believe a business can write off the installation as a cost of doing business (someone in accounting please correct me if I'm wrong on this). Homeowners cannot write off the cost of having service run to their homes. | |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| Re: Guess I'm Missing Something... said by Nuts :This is true. However, I believe a business can write off the installation as a cost of doing business (someone in accounting please correct me if I'm wrong on this). Homeowners cannot write off the cost of having service run to their homes. You assume that only businesses ever have T1 types of connections run to their homes. I can tell you that, prior to cable HSI and more prevalent telco HSI, I used to know people (particularly gamers) that would get T1 connections to their houses.
Hell, it used to be, there were all sorts of fees and costs just to have DSL "installed" at your house.
So, again, I really don't get why it's such a big deal for the cable companies to charge if they have to "go out of their way".
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis | |
| | | rockjock
join:2003-10-14
Salt Lake City, UT
| Cash out of hand is cash out of hand, whether it's a business or a residence. I think that's where the issue lies.
But for the record, a business wouldn't write off the installation as a cost of doing business. The cost would be capitalized and amortized over the estimated useful life of the improvement being made.
From an accounting perspective, since you asked. | |
| shapiro44
join:2004-03-01
Highland, NY | Did ethanlowry ever get his internet connection? Did ethanlowry ever get his internet connection? I lost the
trail of threads on that one. I bet he's still waiting.
Ever wonder why so many of these broadband black hole stories
are in very high tax state of NY? | |
| 
phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL
·Verizon Wireless B..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| Good... Lets go back to the original neighborhood plans. I would almost bet his sub-division was not laid out like the drawings dictated when the original coax was laid. As a result, his home was built in a spot where there is no feeder, amp, or tap anywhere near. To get approval, we need the city to give us right of way, which cost lots of money. The amps aren't cheap, nor is the tap, or electricity to run the amp. If they are doing all this to reach one or two homes, it's not worth it for the company to shell it out. Normal service of standard cable with internet is about $94 a month without tax, so it would take more than 14 years to even MATCH the cost with service alone. The service charge for monthly service includes our payment to the provider, so the cable company is not making 100% profit from him, they are only making 20 to 40 % if they're lucky. Considering all this, it would be foolish for the cable company to foot the bill, as cable does not require a contract. Cable has no guarantee this guy will stay either. It could be a big waste of time, and usually in a case like this it is.
I don't get this problem too often, but when I do, it's usually for a home owner who just had his house built, 2 years after the builder was done with the neighborhood, and they expect to have it connected with normal install charges, when there is no tap even near their property. I'm sorry guys if some of you don't agree, but it would be like having a car shipped from overseas, and expecting to pay the same price as you would for a car built here. You will always have an extra $1500 to $2000 for the shipping, the seller isn't going to break himself trying to cater to your standalone needs. You try to start a cable franchise, and you'll see what cost is involved. 
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| 
Sarah
Premium,ExMod 2002-05
join:2001-01-09
Cambridge, MA
clubs:
| It's not just the have-nots... Smack in the middle of Harvard Square is not an area you'd think of as the "have-nots" of the broadband industry. We are generally wired up to our eyeballs. But we were quoted $18,000 to get cable installed. We ended up opting for a T1 because DSL was so abysmal we couldn't stand it.
We shouldn't really need a T1 for an office of seven people (most of whom only use it for e-mail) but DSL was so unreliable and cable so expensive that it was the only choice for us. Pretty sad when it is cheaper to get a T1 than basic cable internet.
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| |
See 8 replies to this post | |
HyPeRbAnD
join:2006-01-07
Stow, MA | I guess I was lucky When I built my house they ran cable about 20 poles to get to my house, but they did pick up some extra customers on the way. | |
|
helpmoi
@wildblue.net
| Mediacom I have the same issue. I live in an Apt complex of 100+ units, its the biggest complex in this city. We cannot get cable, because our utilities are underground, and mediacom simply did not pre wire this place at the time of construction.
There is cable lines, tap etc., at 500 feet. We cannot get them to build the system, they say they are thinking about it.
IM positive they are in direct violation of city franchise, if they adopted the universal 25 homes/sq mile.
I have spoken to city councilmen, but they dont care, and no one can tell me where to find the actual franchise agreement.
Ugh. | |
| | HyPeRbAnD
join:2006-01-07
Stow, MA
1 edit | Re: Mediacom I think the franchise agreement is public record. I have seen franchise agreements online, but you would have to do some research. The cable co should have a copy of it, but not sure if they would show it to you. | |
| | |
John Galt
Forward, March
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
·CenturyLink
| Re: Mediacom said by HyPeRbAnD :I think the franchise agreement is public record. I have seen franchise agreements online, but you would have to do some research. The cable co should have a copy of it, but not sure if they would show it to you. Go to the City Offices and talk to the Ladies Behind The Counter.
They know everything!
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A is A | |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| said by helpmoi :
I have the same issue. I live in an Apt complex of 100+ units, its the biggest complex in this city. We cannot get cable, because our utilities are underground, and mediacom simply did not pre wire this place at the time of construction.
There is cable lines, tap etc., at 500 feet. We cannot get them to build the system, they say they are thinking about it.
IM positive they are in direct violation of city franchise, if they adopted the universal 25 homes/sq mile.
I have spoken to city councilmen, but they dont care, and no one can tell me where to find the actual franchise agreement.
Ugh.
They are only required to wire up to your building. There almost never are requirements to actually wire the building. If the complex has an electrician come in and do all the wiring inside the walls, Mediacom should be required to hook up that wirign to the tap. If the building has no wiring though, then there is probably no requirement to run from the tap to the building.
The franchise is public record, so you should be able to go down to city hall and get a copy. Let me know if you need help translating what it says (but no legal advice - if you need a defensible legal opinion, hit up the city attorney).
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hdman
Flt Rider
Premium
join:2003-11-25
Appleton, WI
·Alltel Axess
·AT&T Midwest
 ·WildBlue
| Sounds like my story I am a local official in my area, and the previous Town Board signed agreements with a small cable operator who was bought by a medium company, then by Charter. The contract gave Charte the rights to the Town, but no realistic minimums for houses/mile that they HAD to run. I have cable at both ends of the road I live on, with about 2.5 miles in the middle that have the MAJORITY of the homes on it. I am about .3 miles from one end of the cable, and when I asked Charter how much it would cost to run it to my home, I was quoted TWENTY THOUSANS DOLLARS!!! Yep, thats $20,000 and they would have picked up 4 homes in that run.
It is a shame that municiple contracts like this are allowed. The contract comes due in 2008, and our attorney has made it clear that we can negotiate new terms unless done in Federal Court. Also, if we wanted to impose a tax on Charter so that we could fund future build out, Charter would add that to the fees the existing users pay. I would LOVE to see Time Warner move a few miles North and cover our area better than Charter. There is no rule or law that says I can't have 2 providers under contract but nobody seems willing to want to start that mess.....
I think the Cable industry as a whole needs to get slapped by the gov. for keeping so many people in the dark ages....
HDMan
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| | | lolo8
join:2005-06-02
Burbank, CA | Re: You read this? probably cut into a gas line during the install. | |
| SENJ
join:2003-12-04
Egg Harbor City, NJ
| Reminds me of a few years ago... Back in 2003 I had the same problem, with Comcast. I outlined the whole issue in my first post to the boards. »Came out, computer was wrong.. Install costs $7k!
I wasn't going to pay nearly 7,000 for an install so I suffered with dialup for another year. I did try calling the township and the local Comcast office directly, but that only brought up another issue… the crossing of township lines. My nearest cable drop (4 poles away) is in another township, which technically would make it illegal to run the lines down. I was told to get a line from my township a line would have to come from a mile though the pinelands (a federally protected area of woods and wetlands)…. so that wasn’t going to happen. Finally in April 2005 Verizon expanded the reach from the Egg Harbor City co, which allowed me to get DSL. I now have 1.5/384, while it isn't what Comcast can offer it beats dialup any day. Maybe in the future I'll attempt Comcast again, or I'll just wait for Fios (when and if) it gets here. Though I have a feeling I may come across the same issue with either crossing the township line, or them only wanting to bring it down to the same distance as Comcast. | |
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